Cleveland Clinic Creates Transplant Ethics Fellowship

Fellowship Seeks to Expand Expertise and Development of Ethical Guidelines for Transplantation as Demand for Organs Grows

November 7, 2013

Cleveland Clinic has created its first fellowship focused on developing physician expertise on the complicated ethical issues involved in organ transplantation.

“Organ shortages, allocation issues and informed consent policies for living donors are among the many ethical issues that confront the transplant field,” said Eric Kodish, MD, Director of Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Ethics, Humanities and Spiritual Care. “By establishing the nation’s only current transplant ethics fellowship, we will develop experts in an area of medicine that will only become more complex in terms of ethics.”

The fellowship was created with a donation from former U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin, and his wife, Judith. The program director is Kathryn Weise, MD, who also directs the Cleveland Fellowship in Advanced Bioethics. The steering committee includes David Goldfarb, MD, Director of the Renal Transplant Program; Charles Miller, MD, Director of the Liver Transplant Program; and Martin Smith, STD, Director of Clinical Ethics.

David Shafran, MD, is the first fellow in the program. Dr. Shafran graduated from the Sackler School of Medicine in Tel Aviv, Israel, completed his pediatrics residency at Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx, N.Y., and is currently a pediatric nephrology fellow at Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital.

Dr. Shafran and Dr. Weise are developing a curriculum that will effectively familiarize fellows with the core ethical issues surrounding organ transplantation and provide ample material and opportunity for independent research. Once adequately established, the curriculum and program in general could potentially serve as a model for similar projects at other healthcare institutions.

“The goal and challenge in bioethics is to keep the conversation about the emerging issues on pace with rapid advances in medical technology,” said Dr. Shafran. “Similarly, as our medical capabilities in organ transplantation progress, it behooves us to address the commensurate ethical issues methodically and comprehensively. This fellowship represents an acknowledgement of that responsibility.”

About Cleveland Clinic

Cleveland Clinic is a nonprofit multispecialty academic medical center that integrates clinical and hospital care with research and education. Located in Cleveland, Ohio, it was founded in 1921 by four renowned physicians with a vision of providing outstanding patient care based upon the principles of cooperation, compassion and innovation. Cleveland Clinic has pioneered many medical breakthroughs, including coronary artery bypass surgery and the first face transplant in the United States. U.S.News & World Report consistently names Cleveland Clinic as one of the nation’s best hospitals in its annual “America’s Best Hospitals” survey. More than 3,000 full-time salaried physicians and researchers and 11,000 nurses represent 120 medical specialties and subspecialties. The Cleveland Clinic health system includes a main campus near downtown Cleveland, more than 75 Northern Ohio outpatient locations, including 16 full-service Family Health Centers, Cleveland Clinic Florida, the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas, Cleveland Clinic Canada, and, currently under construction, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi. In 2012, there were 5.1 million outpatient visits throughout the Cleveland Clinic health system and 157,000 hospital admissions. Patients came for treatment from every state and from more than 130 countries. Visit us at http://my.clevelandclinic.org. Follow us at http://www.twitter.com/ClevelandClinic.